Electric stapler apparatus

ABSTRACT

An electric stapler apparatus comprising an electromagnet provided on the rear undersurface of a base mount and constituting an operating power source, a staple driving lever adapted to be moved upwardly and downwardly by the electromagnet, the forward end portion thereof fixedly securing a staple driving hammer and the rear end thereof being mounted pivotally on the rear portion of the base mount, a staple guide casing positioned in a floating relationship above the base mount, said casing containing inside of the forward end portion thereof U-shaped staples and pivotally mounted at the rear end thereof on the rear portion of the base mount, and a staple clinching anvil rotatably mounted on the front upper surface of the base mount and provided with a pair of staple clinching grooves for clinching inwardly the staples on the upper surface of a flat anvil portion and another pair of staple clinching grooves for clinching the staples outwardly.

United tates atent Kawai et a1.

[ May 30, 1972 1 ELECTRIC STAPLER APPARATUS Matsushita ElectricIndustrial Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan [22] Filed: Aug. 4, 1970 [21]App1.No.: 60,839

[73] Assignee:

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Aug. 15, 1969 Japan ..44/78765[52] U.S.Cl ..227/l31,227/l55 [51] Int. Cl. t ..B25c 5/02 [58] FieldofSearch ....227/120, 122, 123, 124, 125,

2,487,565 11/1949 Leber et al... ..227/l23 2,468,715 4/1949 Numbers....227/155 1,956,174 4/1934 Maynard ..227/155 Primary ExaminerGranvilleY. Custer, Jr. Attorney-Stevens, Davis, Miller & Mosher [5 7] ABSTRACTAn electric stapler apparatus comprising an electromagnet provided onthe rear undersurface of a base mount and constituting an operatingpower source, a staple driving lever adapted to be moved upwardly anddownwardly by the electromagnet, the forward end portion thereof fixedlysecuring a staple driving hammer and the rear end thereof being mountedpivotally on the rear portion of the base mount, a stuple guide casingpositioned in a floating relationship above the base mount, said casingcontaining inside of the forward end portion thereof U-shaped staplesand pivotally mounted at the rear end thereof on the rear portion of thebase mount, and a staple clinching anvil rotatably mounted on the frontupper surface of the base mount and provided with a pair of stapleclinching grooves for clinching inwardly the staples on the uppersurface of a flat anvil portion and another pair of staple clinchinggrooves for clinching the staples outwardly.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMAY I 72 3,666,157

sum 1 or 2 INVENTORJ 1 .2%, Mm M ATTORNEYJ PATENTEnmAYao m2 3,666.15?

sum 2 or 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY ELECTRIC STAPLER APPARATUS The presentinvention relates to an electric stapler apparatus of the type in whichthe electromagnetic force of an electromagnet is utilized forautomatically driving a staple into sheets of paper to be fastenedtogether.

Particularly in the present invention, a staple clinching anvil forclinching the staple driven piercing through the sheets of paper bymeans of a hammer is so designed in a peculiar construction as to enableclinching the U-shaped staple in either inner or outer side direction.

The present invention has an object to enable clinching the U-shapedstaple in either inner or outer side direction by rotatably operating astaple clinching anvil, according to the thickness of the sheets ofpaper to be fastened, the quantity of sheets, the applicable purpose ofthe fastened sheets or the like.

A specific embodiments in order to achieve the object and the featuresof the present invention will become apparent from the descriptionstated hereinunder in conjunction with accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of an electric stapler apparatusembodying the present invention with a cut-away portron;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view showing a base mount of the electricstapler apparatus;

FIG. 3 is an elevational section view of principal portions showing therelationship between a staple driving hammer and a staple clinchinganvil provided on the base mount; and

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the staple clinching anvilafter being dismounted from the base mount.

Referring now to the drawings, the apparatus includes a casing 1 formedfrom a sheet metal, and a cover 2 tightly secured to the casing l by abolt 3 and provided in the front section thereof with a wedge-likeopening 4 for receiving sheets of paper (P) to be fastened together in adirection indicated by the arrow. Reference numeral 5 designates a basemount made of a sheet steel, and provided with two pairs of legs 6, 6'and 7, 7 (Only 7' is not shown) on both sides of the front and rearportions respectively, the lower ends of said respective legs being bentinwardly to provide means by which the base mount 5 is fixed to thecasing 1. Reference numeral 8 designates a staple clinching anvilprovided on the front upper portion of the base mount and that will bedescribed in detail hereinunder. Reference numeral 9 is a switch lever,its top portion projecting upwardly through a slot 10 provided on thefront upper surface portion of the base mount, the switch lever beingpivotally fitted on a retaining plate 11 positioned in the interior ofthe leg 6 and having a fore-and-aft movement within the slot 10 causedby the forward movement of an operating knob 12 integrally provided withthe retaining plate. Reference numeral 13 designates a slot for slidingthe knob 12 frontwardly and rearwardly. Below the rear portion of thebase mount, namely, in a space between the legs 7, 7 is provided anelectromagnet l4 constituting an operating power source, theelectromagnet being provided with a moving piece which projectsforwardly during the period of non-excitation and withdraws rearwardlyupon excitation.

Reference numeral 16 designates a U-shaped supporting member provided onthe rear upper surface of the base mount, and a staple guide case 17positioned in a floating relation above the base mount and the rear endof a staple driving lever 18 are pivotally connected by a pin 19 on thesupporting member.

The central portion of the staple driving lever 18 is pivotallyconnected to the upper end of a rocking lever 21 by a pin 20, and thelower end of the rocking lever is pivotally connected by a pin 23 withthe other end of an L-shaped crank 22 of which its one end is pivotallyconnected with the forward extremity of the moving piece of saidelectromagnet. The L- shaped crank 22 is supported its center portionwhich is the center of rotation, on the base mount 5 by a pin 33.Reference numeral 24 designates a staple driving hammer provided on theforward extremity of the staple driving lever, 25 a coil springpermanently upwardly urging the staple guide case and 26 an omega-shapedrestricting plate for performing the positional restriction of thestaple guide case so as to prevent the rightward and leftward rockingmovements of the staple guide case and maintain the distance between theforward extremity of the staple guide case and the staple clinchinganvil 8 constant.

Within the staple guide case 17 is provided a staple magazine (Notshown) which contains the U-shaped staples(S) on the front inner portionthereof and locates a staple pushing member 27 to push out the staples.Reference numeral 28 designates a coil spring for giving a resilientpushing force to the staple pushing member and is supported around asupporting rod 29.

An operating knob 30 is provided on the rear leg 7 of the base mount andcauses the staple magazine to project forwardly by minutely rotating arotary lever due to the forward movement. A fitting plate 35, to whichan L-shaped fitting plate 34 is secured, is fixedly mounted on theinterior side of the front leg 6 by screws 66. On the upper portion ofthe switching fitting plate 34 is fixedly mounted a microswitch 36, andthe switch 36 has its switch button 40 pushed by a pushing tongue piece39, which in turn is pushed by a pushing piece 38 rotated by a pushingprojection piece 37 provided on the lower end of the switch lever 9described previously, thus the switch being placed in the ON position.Reference numeral 41 is a lever for turning the microswitch 36 to theOFF position by rotating forwardly a trigger piece 42 of the pushingpiece 38 when actuating the stapler, namely, at the instantaneouslowering of the staple driving lever. Reference numeral 43 designates apair of arms for supporting the pushing piece, provided on thehorizontal end portion of the L-shaped switch fitting plate 34.

Next, the action will be described with respect to the staple clinchinganvil. The staple clinching anvil 8 comprises a disclike flat anvilportion 44, a small diameter shaft portion 45 centrally provided on theunderside surface of the flat anvil portion 44 and an extension 47 of arotary operating lever 46 integrally formed with the shaft portion 45,and on the upper surface of the flat anvil portion 44, a pair ofclinching grooves 48 for inwardly clinching the staples and another pairof clinching grooves 49 for outwardly clinching the staples and disposedwhile maintaining the angle of In addition, on a portion of the lowerperipheral surface of the fiat anvil portion 44 is formed a projection50 for stopping a rotation of the flat anvil portion. On the other hand,on a positioning plate 51 are formed a through hole 52 rotatablyinserting the small diameter shaft portion 45 described abovetherethrough and an arcuate slot 53 loosely fitted a projection 50therein and can be rotated the rotation of the staple clinching anvil 8in a predetermined amount, namely, in this case, can be rotated by 90 insuch a relation that the clinching grooves 48, 49 intersectperpendicularly, and on respective comer portions are formed throughholes 56 for fixing the positioning plate 51 to four screw holes 54provided on the base mount 5 by screws 55.

In addition, a U-shaped knotch 57 is centrally formed in the frontportion of the base mount 5. The lever 46 is rotatable and angle 0 ofgreater than 90 about the axis of the anvil 44 between both front rightand left legs 6, 6.

The shaft 45 of the staple clinching anvil 8 rotatably extends throughthe through hole 52 of the positioning plate 51 and a through holeportion 58 provided at an end of the lever 46 is inserted into and fixedon the fixedly mounted portion 47 is inserted in turn the small diametershaft portion 45 into the notch portion 57 and is then mounted on thebase mount 5 by screwing down the screws 55 after the through holes 56of the positioning plate 51 are made to coincide with the screw holes54.

In this case, under such a condition that the positioning plate 51 isfixed on the base mount 5, the staple clinching anvil 8 is rotatedaccording to the rotation of the lever 46 caused by an engaging coilspring 59 stretched between the lever 46 and the base mount 5 and isintended to rotate to the position such that the lever makes in contactwith either 6 or 6' of the base mount 5 therewith, but the projection 50provided on the underside surface of the flat anvil portion 44 of thestaple clinching anvil can be moved in only the lengthy range of thearcuate slot 53. Since the curved angle of the arcuate slot 53 isdetermined to be at 90, the flat anvil portion can be rotated by 90 onlyand either the clinching grooves 48 or 49 of the staples are heldperpendicularly in the longitudinal direction of the base mount 5, thusnot causing any greater rotation than 90. Reference numeral 60 is a cutbent piece provided on the base mount side for holding one end of thecoil spring 59 and 61 is a cut bent piece provided on the lever 46 side.These pieces 60 and 61 are arranged so as to align with each other onthe center line of the base mount 5 with the center of rotation of theshaft portion 45 of the anvil 8 interposed therebetween.

Then, under such a condition that the staple clinching anvil is stoppedso as not to easily move by the resiliency of the coil spring 59, if theswitch lever is turned over while inserting the sheets of paper P intothe opening 4 the staple driving lever having as an operating powersource the electromagnet 14 described previously is lowered down, andone piece of the staples in the staple magazine is separated from theothers by the hammer 24 provided on its forward extremity and is piercedinto the sheets of paper on the staple clinching anvil 8, the staples Sare clinched inwardly by the clinching grooves 48 positioned below thehammer 24.

Moreover, the rotary operating lever is rotated overcoming against theresiliency of the coil spring 59 in either right or left direction byholding a knob 63 projected outwardly from a notched groove 62 of thecasing 1 from the said condition and is directed to the opposite legside, namely, to the leg 6' side if the lever 46 is located heretoforeon the leg 6 side and to the leg 6 side if it is located heretofore onthe leg 6 side, whereby the staple clinching anvil 8 integrally formedwith the lever 46 is rotated by 90 and the clinching grooves 49 forclinching the staples outwardly are aligned in the same direction as thehammer 24, thus the staple driven piercing into the sheets of paper P bythe hammer 24 being clinched outwardly.

As can be seen from the description above, the stapler apparatusaccording to the present invention is simple and rigid in constructionand also extremely simple in assembly and ad justment. The smalldiameter shaft portion of the staple clinching anvil is tightly insertedinto the through hole of the positioning plate so that the stapleclinching grooves can be confronted with the hammer with great accuracywithout causing any dislocation, and the rotary operating lever torotate the staple clinching anvil is biased by the spring so that thestaple clinching anvil can be held without causing any fluctuation.Since the lever is drawn by the resiliency of the spring whenalternatively changing the clinching grooves, the motion of the levercan be easily performed.

Additionally, since the rotary operating lever may be operated on aremote portion from the staple driving outlet by modifying it in asuitable length, safety in operation can be maintained and it nevercauses a disadvantage such that the microswitch is actuated by turningover the switch lever of the microswitch even if moved by anymis-operation.

We claim:

1. An electric stapler apparatus for fastening sheets of staplablematerial together, comprising: a base mount; an electromagnet mounted onthe lower surface of the rear portion of said base mount, saidelectromagnet having a moving piece and fomiing an operating powersource for said apparatus; a staple driving lever pivotally mounted atits rear end on the upper surface of said rear portion of said basemount; a staple driving hammer provided on the front end of said stapledriving lever; a staple guide case adapted to receive U-shaped staplesand positioned between said base mount and said staple driving lever,said staple guide case having its rear end pivotally connected to theupper surface of said base mount rear portion; power transmission meansconnecting said moving piece of said electroma et with said stapledriving lever so as to downwardly move t e latter when saidelectromagnet is excited; a positioning plate secured to the uppersurface of the front portion of said base mount and defining therein anarcuate slot and a through-hole; a staple clinching anvil rotatablymounted on said positioning plate, said anvil being provided in theupper surface thereof with two pairs of staple clinching grooves each ofwhich pairs is adapted to clinch staples in one of inward and outwarddirections when the staples are driven by said hammer; projectionextending downwardly from a peripheral portion of the undersurface ofsaid anvil into said arcuate slot in said positioning plate; a shaftmounted on the undersurface of said anvil and extending rotably throughsaid through-hole in said positioning plate; an anvil operating leverfixed to said shaft for rotation therewith, said anvil operating leverbeing spring-biased in one of the rotational directions of said anvil;and a microswitch operable by the sheets to be fastened together tocontrol the electrical supply to the apparatusv 2. An electric staplerapparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a switch leveroperable in response to the feed of said sheets to be fastened togetheronto said staple clinching anvil to actuate said microswitch.

1. An electric stapler apparatus for fastening sheets of staplablematerial together, comprising: a base mount; an electromagnet mounted onthe lower surface of the rear portion of said base mount, saidelectromagnet having a moving piece and forming an operating powersource for said apparatus; a staple driving lever pivotally mounted atits rear end on the upper surface of said rear portion of said basemount; a staple driving hammer provided on the front end of said stapledriving lever; a staple guide case adapted to receive U-shaped staplesand positioned between said base mount and said staple driving lever,said staple guide case having its rear end pivotally connected to theupper surface of said base mount rear portion; power transmission meansconnecting said moving piece of said electromagnet with said stapledriving lever so as to downwardly move the latter when saidelectromagnet is excited; a positioning plate secured to the uppersurface of the front portion of said base mount and defining therein anarcuate slot and a throughhole; a staple clinching anvil rotatablymounted on said positioning plate, said anvil being provided in theupper surface thereof with two pairs of staple clinching grooves each ofwhich pairs is adapted to clinch staples in one of inward and outwarddirections when the staples are driven by said hammer; projectionextending downwardly from a peripheral portion of the undersurface ofsaid anvil into said arcuate slot in said positioning plate; a shaftmounted on the undersurface of said anvil and extending rotably throughsaid through-hole in said positioning plate; an anvil operating leverfixed to said shaft for rotation therewith, said anvil operating leverbeing springbiased in one of the rotational directions of said anvil;and a microswitch operable by the sheets to be fastened together tocontrol the electrical supply to the apparatus.
 2. An electric staplerapparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a switch leveroperable in response to the feed of said sheets to be fastened togetheronto said staple clinching anvil to actuate said microswitch.